In this large, colourful and imposing painting by the Haitian artist Gino Tintin, the 21 Nations of its title refer to the ancient pre-colonial West African nations, for example the Ibo, Nago, Petro and Rada.
In religions everything is symbolic, everything refers to something else.
So the Ibo, Nago, Petro and Rada are each associated with a dance rhythm specific to that particular nation.
Here we see the loas, or spirits, from the 21 nations, each with their corresponding flags.
Each loa is represented in a different colour, in the same way that saints in the Christian religion are associated with specific colours.
The depiction of these loas recalls the thin-legged yet dynamic creatures in some of Salvador Dali’s paintings, for example his Temptation of St Anthony, as well as the shadows and distant landscapes often seen in this Spanish Christian painter’s work.
The loas also have shadows. At the centre is the empty chair of the dead, towards which Baron Samedi, the loa who is the Lord of the Graveyard, points his lowered black flag.
Part of the back of the chair merges with the distant mountains. It's also a ladder rising into the sky.
The vast landscape (look at the clouds) is full of the spirits of the dead, who reside there for a year. Then they are released into a new life.
In religions everything is symbolic, everything refers to something else.
So the Ibo, Nago, Petro and Rada are each associated with a dance rhythm specific to that particular nation.
Here we see the loas, or spirits, from the 21 nations, each with their corresponding flags.
Each loa is represented in a different colour, in the same way that saints in the Christian religion are associated with specific colours.
The depiction of these loas recalls the thin-legged yet dynamic creatures in some of Salvador Dali’s paintings, for example his Temptation of St Anthony, as well as the shadows and distant landscapes often seen in this Spanish Christian painter’s work.
The loas also have shadows. At the centre is the empty chair of the dead, towards which Baron Samedi, the loa who is the Lord of the Graveyard, points his lowered black flag.
Part of the back of the chair merges with the distant mountains. It's also a ladder rising into the sky.
The vast landscape (look at the clouds) is full of the spirits of the dead, who reside there for a year. Then they are released into a new life.
